Nate's Dates
by Blade of Justice
Summary: [CANCELED] Meet Nate, a boy who just wants to get himself a girlfriend, and Yukina, an Oshawott with a dangerous attitude. Together with his Pokemon, Nate will travel across Unova in search of cute girls and adventure! ... But mostly cute girls.
1. Meet Nate

**MEET NATE**

If there's one thing I've learned in all my years growing up in my hometown of Aspertia City, it's this one simple fact.

The only thing a man needs is girls. Cute ones, if he gets a say in the matter.

Sure, I may not be what you're call a "man" yet - I'm getting there! - but I can still understand this basic, important fact of life. I really don't get how so many people around me don't get it. Maybe I'm too mature for them? Hugh would probably laugh if I said that, he usually does, but that's fine by me. One of us has to be able to appreciate the finer things in life, and I'm more than happy to be that guy.

I know what you're thinking here. "Nate! The world is full of exciting things to do! Monsters to catch! Trainers to battle! And you want _girls_? What kind of weirdo are you?"

Well, I'll tell you what kind of weirdo. I'm a weirdo that wants to have a super cute girlfriend someday! You can leave catching Pokemon and all of that adventuring stuff to by buddy, Hugh, because I don't need any of it.

At least, that was what I always told myself. When Hugh was running around town showing off his new baby - a Snivy - I was happy for him, really, but I don't know... I couldn't connect with it the same way the others in the city could. Maybe it was because I'd never had a Pokemon before? Or maybe it was because I'd never really wanted one before?

It's not like Pokemon can get you a girlfriend, after all!

But then I got to thinking.

See, the thing is, the only girl I've ever really known all that well here in Aspertia is my buddy's little sister - and okay, I'll give you the fact that she's cute, but she's half my age and not exactly the cute I'm going for here. For a big city, big to me anyway, most people don't tend to stick around long.

That might be changing soon though. Even though I've never been interested in this kind of thing, they've been building a Gym in the back of the Pokemon School. The Gym Leader's supposed to be here any day now, and from that point on, we'll be a hot spot for traveling trainers. Already, people are starting to come visit the city in anticipation of getting their badge.

And I hate to say it, but a lot of those trainer girls are pretty cute...

That's when it hit me!

If I was a Pokemon trainer, I'd have an in with all of these girls! I wouldn't have to worry about finding something to talk about, because trainers just sort of... connect! Or so I'm told, anyway. Not only that, but I'd get to see girls from all over the country if I went on an adventure, you know what I mean?

The possibilities were endless! And it wasn't like I hated Pokemon or anything... I just have always had different priorities, you know? But it seems like my priorities and Pokemon might just be able to be intertwined if I play my cards right...

Yeah... This could be the start of a beautiful relationship!

As if it was fate, the same day I started thinking about how Pokemon actually _could_ help me on my quest to finally get a cutie of my own, my mom had a nice and long phone call with her old friend Professor Juniper.

Life's kinda cool like that sometimes. Little did I know that it was going to get downright _freezing_ before my adventure was over!


	2. The First Date

**THE FIRST DATE**

I think I'm in love.

Also, I'm officially a Pokemon trainer.

More importantly though... I've met_ the one_.

- That is what you say when you meet a really cute girl, right? That she's "the one"? Whatever that means? I've seen it on TV. Saying that always gets the hero the girl, and boy did I meet a girl that I'd love to get!

It all started after my mom had that phone call with her professor friend. Apparently she'd been telling the prof alllll about me for who knows how long now — and guys, I want to just go on the record and say that I'd be really steamed about all this if what happened hadn't turned out so awesome. If I want to be bragged about, then I'm more than willing to do the bragging myself — thanks for that one mom!

But anyway. So today mom tells me that I need to go find a big green hat. We have one of our usual wacky exchanges. She asked me if I know what a Pokemon is and what a Pokedex is, stuff like that. I mean, I know it's weird that I've never shown interest in having a Pokemon before, but I know what they are! It's embarrassing when she gets like that... But she's my ma, so I love her for it. She can be a pretty funny lady sometimes.

After that, I'm off in search of the person with the big green hat. It looked like my journey was starting a lot sooner than I thought it would! Not that I'd had a real plan beyond "Step 1: Go On Adventure. Step 2: ? Step 3: Obtain Girlfriend" or anything, so maybe getting a little help won't hurt me any.

Once I leave my house, I run into my buddy Hugh and his little sister. I explain what was going on to them, and they're pretty surprised about it — Hugh's little sister even warns me that I need to take care of my Pokemon once I get it. Maybe she doesn't trust a guy who's never been interested in them to take care of one?

... I have to admit, once I get my hands on the thing, I've got no idea what to do with it.

Well, I'll figure that out when I get to it. Can't be _that_ hard, right?

Hugh seems pretty pumped for me at least, and I appreciate that from him — he's not my best friend for nothing. He's always wanted me to get into the whole Pokemon thing, so this must be like an early Christmas present for him.

Hey, I should remember that when it comes time to get him something... Maybe I won't have to get him anything-?

Uh, right, anyway, where was I?

Hugh's sister left, leaving me and Hugh to find the person in the big green hat. It wasn't much to go on, but we make a pretty good team, so I was confident we'd find the person. Eventually we figured out that the best place to be in the city would be at the lookout, so we headed up there, and lo and behold...

A _babe_!

Mom had _not_ mentioned that there would be an older woman involved here! A real sweetheart of one too!

Getting down to business, I pretty much agreed to everything she asked of me. I don't even remember most of it now, but the general gist of it was that I'm going to go on a country-wide adventure to fill up a Pokedex for her and the professor and I was being given a Pokemon to sweeten the deal.

As if she needed to give me anything like that! What she should have done was given me her phone number... Though as luck would have it, I'd be getting that later on — but let's not get ahead of ourselves here.

It was time for the choice. It was something a lot of starting trainers did, provided they didn't just go out and catch something on their own. The big pick, so to speak.

My choice was between a Snivy, a Tepig, and an Oshawott. Pretty standard stuff, or so I'd been told. This would be my first serious decision as a Pokemon trainer, so I spared no effort in making it.

The first thing I did was rule out the Tepig. Bianca — have I not mentioned her name yet? man is it a nice name! — would probably remember this decision for the rest of our relationship, so there was no way I was letting her see me picking a _pig_ of all things right off the bat.

That just left Oshawott and Snivy. Hugh already had a Snivy, and not that I had anything against the species, but it didn't seem right to pick the same Pokemon that my buddy has. Plus... What kind of girl wants to date a guy who goes with a snake of all things for their first Pokemon? They'd never trust him!

In the end, it seemed my only option was the Oshawott. It was cute enough looking, so girls would probably like it, and it even came with a weapon! That's kind of cool, right? It probably would evolve into something either really cute or really cool, and I was fine with either.

My decision made, I grabbed the Pokeball containing my future partner and looked to Bianca expectantly. She was so cute! Could I catch her heart in one of these balls?

To my surprise, as I let out the little thing to give it a name, I discovered it was a girl. I hadn't thought about genders or names or anything like that, but maybe it was a sign that my first Pokemon was a girl.

That said, I'll get back to you on what kind of sign it actually was. I'm still trying to figure that one out.

Back to the Oshawott. I'd been watching a foreign movie the night before, about gangs and samurai and the like... I grinned to myself at the thought, recalling the name of the heroine. She'd been a real cutie.

In the end, I named my little Oshawott Yukina. It wasn't original or anything, but the little Water type seemed to like it, and Bianca seemed to think this was a great name, so I figured I'd accomplished that particular mission.

Unfortunately for me, I'd soon learn that, rather than a heroine, my little Oshawott was more like a yazuka boss than anything else.

_Boy_ would I learn. I feel sore just thinking about it...

_Why didn't I pick the cute little pig!?_


	3. The Second Date

**THE SECOND DATE**

If there's one thing I hadn't counted on when I'd decided I wanted to go on an adventure, it was the pain.

I'm not talking about pain from things like heat stroke or cuts or other simple things like that. I'm not _that_ naive — I'd accounted for those kinds of things! In fact, I'd _counted_ on them. Getting injured while traveling with a sweet girl, letting her put on disinfectant and a bandaid... I would have been living the dream, right!?

The problem is that the pain I'm talking about is more... Mental? Yeah, mental might be a good word for it.

It all started when Bianca — innocent, unknowing Bianca! — suggested me and Hugh have a Pokemon battle to celebrate my becoming a trainer. Under normal circumstances, I might have refused. I didn't know a Tail Whip from a Tackle yet, after all.

But could I back down in front of Bianca? No way! She'd remember that for sure if I did! And I had to win too. I had to show just what kind of trainer I was going to be. So I accepted the challenge withoit a moment's hesitation — or rather, without a moment's thought.

That was my first mistake. I _really_ should have thought about it a little bit.

My second mistake was not realizing my new Pokedex had a list of all of Yukina's attacks on it.

What happened next can only be described as a complete and total disaster. Oh, my little Yukina won, of course... But I don't think I can say with any amount of confidence that I won that battle.

Hugh and his Snivy were experienced. Though I'd lucked out, somehow, and the Snivy and Yukina were about equal in strength, they had an existing bond and who knew what kinds of tactics on their hands. In my case, I'd just picked up a Pokemon after some pretty important deliberation... Not at all considering any of the "important" stuff, like types and attacks or any of that.

I started calling out whatever attacks that I figured the little Oshawott would know. I'm pretty sure she knew at least one of them. Thankfully, Bianca mistook my confusion for excitement, and cheered me on from the sidelines. Unfortunately, Yukina's opinion of me seemed to plummet faster than a rock in water, because eventually... She just stopped listening to me entirely.

Throughout this whole exchange between me and Yukina, Hugh and his Snivy were showing off some pretty good teamwork. It made me feel... something. Envious, maybe? It was like... I want to do that with Yukina! It was a weird feeling considering I'd never cared about Pokemon before. Maybe it was because I actually had one counting on me now? I dunno.

In any case, about when I gave up on logical options and tried telling her to use stuff like Hydro Pump, which I was pretty sure she didn't know in the first place, was when Yukina took matters into her own little hands.

First, she walked over to me and jumped into the air and _slapped me_ with her little shell.

It still stings.

Then, she walked over to the Snivy and... Well, I don't want to describe what happened after that. I'm pretty sure the Pokemon was mad at me and was taking it out on her opponent... But to make it simple, once she did that, the poor little snake didn't stand a chance.

As if nothing strange had happened, Bianca congratulated me while Hugh seemed pumped up to get back to training with his partner. He was out of there pretty quickly — if I had to guess, I'd say that my little Oshawott scared the pants off of him.

Well, either way, that leads us to where I am now.

Hugh's little sister came to find me and gave me a pair of Town Maps. She'll make somebody a great girlfriend someday, I know it! She wanted me to find Hugh and give him one of them. Normally, that wouldn't be such a bad thing, but part of me wonders if Hugh will be avoiding me after that "battle" that we had...

Hugh, I'm sorry! I'll learn all of the attacks before we next meet! For both of our sakes!


	4. The Third Date

**THE THIRD DATE**

You know, when I set out on my big adventure, I kind of figured I wouldn't be heading back home for a while. I even had a dramatic parting with my mom when she gave me a new pair of Running Shoes and everything! She didn't seem too bothered by it, which kind of bugged me — what kind of mom doesn't get worried when their son decides to go off all by himself into the world?

Well, I guess in this world I live in, these kinds of partings are normal. Mom probably had one just like it when she was my age. Once again I'm reminded that I've always been something of an oddball, chasing skirts instead of Patrats...

Now, though, I'm chasing both!

Speaking of Patrats, Yukina's probably taken down about a hundred of them now. I stopped counting. I still don't have a second Pokemon, and I'm not sure I ever will. Yukina seems to just... _judge me_ every time I try to catch something. It's like, if she doesn't think that what I'm trying to catch is good enough, she'll give me this _look_, and then I end up putting the PokeBall away and telling her to use Water Gun and...

Man, I really wish I had picked that pig. Yukina's scary. Wasn't there a really heartwarming children's story about a Tepig and a Joltik? I could have said I picked the Tepig because of that and named him Wilburn!

What's done is done, I guess. Hopefully we'll find a Pokemon that Yukina approves of before long so I can use that one to catch some more. Otherwise I'll be in trouble down the road — I've already battled people with more than one now, but she always makes quick work of them no matter what. It's scary how calm she is one minute and violent the next.

Anyway, so like I was saying, I didn't think I'd be heading home for a long time. I even had this awesome mental image of coming back with a girlfriend I'd met on my adventure to introduce her. I'd be the Pokemon Champion or something like that — or maybe she would be! I don't really care about that kind of thing. I'd walk her into my old home, mom would cook us my favorite, and then I'd take her to the lookout and then...

Man, it would have been so great!

Reality can be a cruel mistress. Maybe that's what I should have named Yukina.

So I eventually caught up with Hugh after running into this homeless guy (or so I thought) named Alder. He seemed pretty smart, and he practically radiated this aura of power... I thought it was weird that he just appeared out of nowhere like that, but I'm not the type to judge people for where they live (or don't live).

Alder wanted to train me, and after I explained that my Oshawott was already doing that jut fine and that I needed to find my buddy, he was cool enough to point me in Hugh's direction. Apparently he'd already been by there and was on the next route over. That sounded like Hugh alright — still, I really needed to get this map to him before he headed to the mainland.

Chasing after Hugh was an experience. I wound up at a ranch filled with all kinds of Pokemon, namely Electric types, where Hugh was helping the owners look for a lost Pokemon. He was really upset about it too, which got me worried. I wasn't so much worried about the Pokemon — even its trainer wasn't that worried — but with my buddy so upset? There was no way I'd leave him hanging.

While I was looking for the lost Pokemon, we ran into all kinds of trouble via the wild Pokemon living in the ranch. I was kind of hoping that maybe I could catch one, since they were Electric types and all, but it wasn't meant to be. Yukina was merciless and beat up everything that crossed her path — even the baby Azurills!

Eventually we found the Pokemon, but get this! This weirdo in a jumpsuit who said he was from Team Plasma (those guys from two years ago?) was trying to steal it! I was worried for a minute — I didn't want to get into any trouble — but wouldn't you know it, the guy ran off! What a wimp. Not that I could blame him though. I'd run from Yukina too.

After that, the Pokemon's trainer took it back, and I headed back to Alder's little house where he was training some kids. He said I didn't need to be trained anymore, that I'd gotten stronger in just the short time I'd been gone, but...

I thought back to all those poor Mareep and Azurill. I was pretty sure the only one that had gotten stronger was Yukina.

Anyway, after Yukina helped "train" the two kids with Alder, he told me that the Gym back home had finally been opened and that I should go test my strength there. I wasn't thrilled with the idea of going home already, and pretty much empty handed at that, but I figured I needed to start somewhere, and I could always get a nice home cooked meal before I left again, so that was that.

Now I'm on the way home after barely any time has passed to fight my first Gym Battle.

Looking at Yukina, who's all set to take on the challenge... I'm not sure who I feel more sorry for: The new Gym Leader or me.

Wish me luck!


End file.
